Those Bizarre Interview Questions

Good morning monkeys.

Quick, walk me through a DCF, tell me how to calculate cost of equity, and explain to me how I get from basic to fully-diluted shares outstanding. Got that? Good.

Now, tell me 10 things you'd do with a pencil. You have 30 seconds...starting now.

Ah yes, we're used to your standard behavioral and technical questions. Most of us have mastered walking through a DCF analysis, explaining why an acquisition is accretive or dilutive, and everything in between.

But what about those "weird" questions? You know what I'm talking about -- ones that you can't really prepare for in any material way. Ones that, gasp, require independent thinking!

"Weird" questions, at least in my experience, come in three buckets:

  • 1. Obscure to relatively-obscure finance questions
  • 2. Market-sizing brainteaser-type questions
  • 3. Bizarre questions that require some creativity

1. Obscure to relatively-obscure finance questions
These are less weird than others, but I'd still categorize them as "weird" because they don't fall into either technical or behavioral questions explicitly. These are questions like What did the S&P 500 close at yesterday? The Dow? A 10-year T bill? What did the Fed announce last week, and what's your opinion on it? What's your take on "X" news story from the past week?

I'll admit, these questions are likely easier to prepare for than the other "weird" questions, but they're still ones that can be tricky and will separate fine candidates from really solid ones. If you all have any other similar questions you can add to the above list (obviously this list isn't exhaustive), please drop a comment.

2. Market-sizing brainteaser-type questions
These questions are similar to ones you'd get in consulting interviews, and can actually be really fun to answer. I'm creating a heated bath-towel product -- can you figure out a rough estimate for how many people we would want to market this to? And they don't have to explicitly ask about market-sizing: How many kids in the US play sports? Of those, how many play football?

The key to these questions is establishing a dialogue and establishing baseline parameters. For the above question about sports, the first questions that should come to mind are "Are kids defined to be 1-18 years of age?" and "Can we assume population of the US (320mm) is evenly distributed among 'X' age groups?". Once you have that info, you're off to the races, and it's an easy problem to "solve" even though there isn't a truly correct answer.

3. Bizarre questions that require some creativity
What kind of animal would you be? If you're stranded in a desert with two other people but can only carry one, what do you do? What are 10 things you can do with 'random item inserted here' right now?

Ah, these guys tend to be very random and one really can't prepare much for them. The interviewer can, and is likely to, ask you something really off-the-wall at some point during the interview, but from what I've heard, it's important to stick to the overarching theme of the interview: qualities that make me a good banker/consultant/PE guy/whatever. For example, you probably don't want to answer the animal question with "sloth" if you're going in for an Investment Banking Analyst interview -- common sense folks. Be creative and fun and these won't be too bad at all.

What weird questions would you add to these examples? Any tips for answering odd questions? Anyone faced a weird question that REALLY tripped them up and threw them off their game?

Thanks for reading.

 
BTbanker:
For the animal question, tell them you would be a honey badger.

Interviewer- " (Pregnant Pause)......So what you're saying is that you don't care? Interesting..."

Fear is the greatest motivator. Motivation is what it takes to find profit.
 
shark-monkey:
BTbanker:
For the animal question, tell them you would be a honey badger.

Interviewer- " (Pregnant Pause)......So what you're saying is that you don't care? Interesting..."

Wrong! Honey badger don't give s fuck :)

Thanks

I may not be on the Jedi Council, but I sure am great with the Force. See my WSO blog posts
 

10 things to do with a pencil? Whoah...

If you ain't gettin money dat mean you done somethin wrong. " If you have built castles in the air , your work need not be lost; that is where they should be . Now put the foundations under them." - Henry David Thoreau
 

For the desert Q, there is no need to carry anyone. Why carry a person that can walk on his own?

The worst is when they start asking you follow up questions to your answer like a counselor... endless "why?" with an awkward silence

The Knicks are back?
 

Went for an AM interview last week and before he even introduced himself, the interviewer asked in a sing-song voice "QE1, QE2, what do YOU think Bernanke's gonna do?" lol

Thought it was a little weird. I read an article about how these types of bizarre questions don't really help the interviewer assess anything because they do not know the answer themselves, and don't know what they are looking for in your response.

"That dude is so haole, he don't even have any breath left."
 
Best Response
FeelingMean:
Went for an AM interview last week and before he even introduced himself, the interviewer asked in a sing-song voice "QE1, QE2, what do YOU think Bernanke's gonna do?" lol

Thought it was a little weird. I read an article about how these types of bizarre questions don't really help the interviewer assess anything because they do not know the answer themselves, and don't know what they are looking for in your response.

I think to a point they don't know what they're looking for, but know it when they see it. If you ask the same random questions to several guys and only one is quick enough to come up with a good answer you didn't expect, you can still make a judgment based off it.

 
All American Reject:
FeelingMean:
Went for an AM interview last week and before he even introduced himself, the interviewer asked in a sing-song voice "QE1, QE2, what do YOU think Bernanke's gonna do?" lol

Thought it was a little weird. I read an article about how these types of bizarre questions don't really help the interviewer assess anything because they do not know the answer themselves, and don't know what they are looking for in your response.

I think to a point they don't know what they're looking for, but know it when they see it. If you ask the same random questions to several guys and only one is quick enough to come up with a good answer you didn't expect, you can still make a judgment based off it.

True, I agree. The article just noted how it was a relatively new trend, and that the super weird brain-teaser questions once geared toward Google brainiac candidates are now becoming the new normal across most industries. The more I think about it, the more I can see how these types of questions can be beneficial to the interviewer because it reveals not only your problem-solving skills, but also some personality traits.

"That dude is so haole, he don't even have any breath left."
 
FeelingMean:
Went for an AM interview last week and before he even introduced himself, the interviewer asked in a sing-song voice "QE1, QE2, what do YOU think Bernanke's gonna do?" lol .

"QE3, QE4, I think Bernanke's gonna give us more!"

 

I always liked the Monty hall problem, even though it is too broadly known to actually ask in an interview.

"Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1 [but the door is not opened], and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?" http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem

I also like this one: "Mr. Smith has two children. At least one of them is a boy. What is the probability that both children are boys?"

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_or_Girl_paradox

Both of these actually have correct answers, so I guess it's a little different than some questions you are talking about OP.

 

These "weird" questions have no other purpose than checking on how you can answer a question that you cannot answer.

I got the question: "How many boats fit into the Lake Geneva?" (I was interviewed in Switzerland, so "Lake Geneva" is not completely random)

What a stupid question?!

I think it's about staying calm, making up some sensible numbers that show that you are not stupid and showing that you are cool as fuck, even though you have no clue what so ever.

 

One of my most awkward questions was from an MD who said, "so after 30 minutes I think I've gotten to learn quite a bit about you, but I'm curious to know what you think about me?"

Another one of the hardest questions I've gotten was at the end of a super day when I was asked "who else did you meet with earlier?" I'm terrible with names, I really screwed the pooch on that one.

 

10 things to do with a pencil:

  1. Sharpen it.
  2. Break off the tip.
  3. Sharpen it.
  4. Break off the tip.
  5. Sharpen it.
  6. Break off the tip.
  7. Sharpen it.
  8. Break off the tip.
  9. Sharpen it.
  10. Jam it up your interviewer's ass.
 

singing

Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, Trash it, change it, mail - upgrade it, Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it, Snap it, work it, quick - erase it, Write it, cut it, paste it, save it, Load it, check it, quick - rewrite it, Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it, Drag and drop it, zip - unzip it, Lock it, fill it, call it, find it, View it, code it, jam - unlock it, Surf it, scroll it, pause it, click it, Cross it, crack it, switch - update it, Name it, rate it, tune it, print it, Scan it, send it, fax - rename it, Touch it, bring it, Pay it, watch it, Turn it, leave it, start - format it.

 

Got these two in a banking interview: 1. How far can you walk into the woods? 2. If a plane crashed on the border of the US and Canada, where would you bury the survivors?

Also got some case-based questions in a non-consulting interview (specifically buy-side ER). Give me your best estimate of the annual profit of a Dunkin Donuts outside (downtown Boston) and best estimate on the number of maternity beds needed for a hospital (in downtown Boston)?

 

Eaque earum non nam harum. Ratione alias eos aut temporibus. Nam et sed ex laboriosam nesciunt quod.

Eveniet numquam ratione tempora quas atque inventore molestiae. Quo consequatur distinctio illo ut. Ex enim fugiat laboriosam maiores doloribus fugiat hic fuga. Optio ad sint rerum. Sed laborum fugit id libero iusto earum aut.

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